Random Musings

Just a place to chat about things. Mostly music based. I like stuff, lets share.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Ed Kowalczyk - new album and tour

Its been a while, so its seems, since we have heard much from former Live front man Ed Kowalczyk. That is all about to change.

On October 29th he will release his second solo album "The Flood and the Mercy". Joining him on hte record are some friends inluding Rachael Yamagata as well as Peter Buck (guitarist from R.E.M)

Emerging from York, PA in the early 90s with celebrated, multiplatinum band LIVE, Kowalczyk helped define alternative rock into what it is today. With breakthrough albums Mental Jewelry and Throwing Copper that sprouted such staples of modern rock radio as “I Alone”, “Selling the Drama” and “Lightning Crashes”, he continued on with an equally important solo career with his debut Alive.

Ed is kicking off this next chapter of his life with The I Alone Acoustic Tour, revisiting his full cataloge… acoustically. “This tour is my new passion for sure,” he says. “I love blowing people’s minds with the intensity of the emotion and the intimacy the show inspires. My fans were ready for it. It’s selling out all over the world and it’s a testament to their ongoing and powerful devotion to my music, in whatever form it takes.”

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

A View from the Couch....

So..whats been up with you?

The big thing around here has been the
wrap up of Dexter and Breaking Bad. Both shows wrapped up their
series a week apart. Both I have enjoyed from the beginning and only
one was really satisfying in the end.

Yes..Breaking Bad ended up better.

There was a time when all I cared about
on TV was Dexter. I'd get Showtime the weekend it started, and would
cancel the night after it ended. I've stopped doing that since
Homeland started when Showtime got smart this year and decided to run
both Homeland and Dexter NOT at the same time.

So Dexter ended, and it went out with a
whimper sadly. The show had fallen off a lot with me, but I had been
with it since the start and wanted to see how it ends. I am sure if
you watched you've seen it and made up your own mind. There are
parts I was “okay” with, but the horrible visual effects, and the
calmest “hurricane is coming” ocean waves really bugged me. More
so that the “Lumberjack” stuff.

Dexter is/was better than that.
They got lazy and I feel almost like they decided the week before of
what to do.

How it could have ended I do not know.
I always felt it should have ended with Dexter being “found out”
and how he realized that even if it was “good” he was doing it
was against the law. An episode with each character he had fooled
etc. Don't know. Don't need to worry about it.

Breaking Bad on the other hand had some
of the best episodes of TV ever..period. The final few were just gut
punches that found me finding out as much as I could on Twitter or
reading in to the subtle nuances of a shot. Think of any other show
you ever did that for.

I was pleased with how it ended, but
part of me wished Walt was holding the gun vs. letting it be some
robot. Call it a Rambo thing...but as it faded to back I wasn't
saying “what the hell”. Other than the “What happens to Jesse,
or the family” type things you pretty much knew how the show ended.
It was nice that they didn't need to kill off everyone too.

That sorta leaves a huge hole in my TV
“Series” watching. I do watch Homeland and Walking Dead is
coming up, but otherwise I don't have anything that I “must” see.
What are you watching? What do I need to be made aware of?